Students spellbind audience in debate contest
Rawalpindi: A major debate competition was held at SSLS Montessori and school’s Lalazar and Islamabad branches, says a press release.

The main objective of the debate competition was to give the maximum number of children a chance to express their thoughts and to expose them to public speaking. An attempt was also made to encourage the children to organise their ideas in a logical manner and it was heartening to see that the young orators had done their homework as they gave each other a tough competition.

For the Urdu debate, the topic under discussion was Mobile phones: a blessing or a nuisance? (mobile phones :zehmat ya naimat). In today’s mechanised existence one is quite dependent on these mobile phones. For some it has made life very easy and for others it is indeed a menace. Considering the amount of attractive packages that the mobile companies have made for the youth surprisingly the decision went in favour of the topic.

Daniyal Shehzad of grade 8 successfully managed to sway the final verdict of the audience and judges in his favour that indeed mobile phones are a nuisance. Rameen Sadaqat, who was also from 8th grade came second while Naeema Anwar of grade 7 took the third position.

Talib Bokhari who was the chief guest appreciated all the young orators and was gracious enough to express his personal opinion regarding the topic. Wit and humour were also at played at the SLS Islamabad branch. In the Urdu debate category there were topics like “Uff yeh subah ka jagna”, Aala zindagi ka mayaar ilm nahi daulat hai” and “umar e hazir ki nijaat science ya mazhab”and “daur e jaded daur e zawal hai”.

As for the English debate the topic was: ‘Should homework be banned? One could notice the excitement, which the topic had generated among the audience as they eagerly awaited for the participants to share their point of view. With a majority of students in the audience the participants who chose to defend the topic were generously applauded, however, the speakers who spoke against the motion put up a brave fight and finally managed to convince everyone that homework is mandatory.

Once again Naeema Anwar of grade 8 won the approval of the judges that a balanced approach towards homework is necessary to polish and develop the learning ability of a student. Arsalan Kirmani of grade 8th, Afshan Anwar and Rimsha Jehangir were undoubtedly amongst outstanding speakers.

The Islamabad branch were equally good as they chose topics like “As the last bell goes”, “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world” and “Today my country is truly Jinnah’s Pakistan”. All the participants were credibly eloquent in their speech and kept the audience spell bound by their views. Among the prominent speakers were Haya Khan Class I, Abdullah Naveed class III, Hanya Tayyab class III, Verda Amir class 6th, Haifa class5, Haris Ehsan class 4, Maham Waqar, Ibrahim Zaman and Haniya Zia. Thus another successful and memorable debate competition came to an end with the distribution of certificates and trophies. The news